Carnegie Year Book

A Message From Our President

This has been an exceptional year in the history of Carnegie Science. In the face of a global pandemic, our community has remained creative, resilient, and caring. We have made important discoveries, expanded our roster of exceptional scientists, and achieved crucial milestones to strengthen our Institution for years to come.

I am pleased that Margaret McFall-Ngai joined Carnegie as the Director of our new division in Pasadena. With her leadership we will build on Carnegie’s longstanding expertise in exploring the natural world and pursue a new approach to asking big questions about the origins and development of life and its interdependencies with Earth’s ecosystems—many of which are threatened by climate change.

Over the past year, we’ve welcomed several outstanding new Staff Scientists across our Institution: Planetary atmosphere scientist Peter Gao, mineral physicist Anne Pommier, astronomer Ana Bonaca, marine and freshwater ecologist Elena Litchman, and global change scientist Jeffrey Dukes. We have also grown our Staff Associate program with three very talented, interdisciplinary early career scientists: engineer and ecologist Lorenzo Rosa, who advances climate change mitigation strategies across food, water, and energy systems; microbial ecologist Emily Zakem, who investigates connections between microbial ecosystems, global biogeochemistry, and the climate system; and plant biologist Adrien Burlacot, who specializes in the bioenergetics of algal cells and plants. We should be proud that our international reputation enables us to continue to recruit some of the most talented and creative researchers in the world.

This organization has endured and flourished for more than a century because our founder understood the powerful results that can be achieved when great scientists have the freedom and resources to follow their curiosity. Our leaders have also understood that great institutions have the potential to define new fields of investigation and that they must seize new opportunities as they arise.